Ch.183Chapter 183 – Korean Interpreter (7)

“Can you understand what I’m saying?”

“First, can you stop that strange way of speaking?”

“…Uh, um.”

The man who had been gesturing wildly while trying to convince Sharlotte he was an ordinary interpreter in awkward English falls silent, watching her cautiously after hearing her cold voice.

“I am…”

“This isn’t funny. What are you trying to do?”

Sharlotte glares coldly at Adler and begins to mutter.

“You have disguise skills good enough to fool even me, yet you show up with this pathetic disguise and expect me to fall for it?”

“……..”

“Listen, Adler. Are you testing my patience?”

“…N-no, I’m not.”

When she leans forward and snaps at him, the sweating man fidgets with his fingers and mumbles.

“I’m really not Adler…”

Sharlotte narrows her eyes and begins examining him carefully.

“Or perhaps you want to request something you couldn’t ask as Adler?”

“C-cough…!”

When she asks in a slightly softer voice, Adler, who had been watching her reactions, clears his throat and nods slightly.

“…The weather is bright today.”

“It’s evening right now.”

He looks out the window nonchalantly while muttering this, but falls silent when Watson, who had somehow appeared beside him, points this out.

*Swoosh…*

“This client must have poor eyesight, Holmes…”

Watson sits down next to Adler, crosses her legs, and takes out the gun she’s been carrying lately.

“Perhaps making a hole in his eyes would help him see better?”

*Tremble tremble tremble…*

As her loaded gun quietly lands on the desk, Adler begins to shake and glance nervously at the elite doctor sitting beside him.

“D-don’t do this…”

“…So, what kind of case do you want to request?”

Sharlotte, who had been watching with a deep sigh, speaks up in a low voice.

“Let’s just hear what you have to say.”

“…!”

Adler’s eyes widen, and then a bright smile appears on his face.

“Well, about the incident I experienced…”

As he begins to tilt his head side to side while starting his vivid testimony—

“Keep your head still.”

Before his testimony can even begin, Sharlotte’s frosty advice flies at him.

“That’s the professor’s habit…”

“…….”

“Have you been influenced by her after all?”

“N-no! That’s not it…!”

Hearing this, Adler stares blankly for a moment before frantically shaking his head and making excuses.

“I was just feeling good…”

He pauses briefly and starts scratching his head.

“Please pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“”……….”

“…Shall I start explaining again?”

Between Sharlotte and Watson, whose expressions had darkened, Adler begins to share his testimony in a trembling voice, feeling the increasingly chilling atmosphere.

.

.

.

.

.

“…That’s what happened to me.”

“Hmm.”

“What do you think? Do you have any impressions…”

After passionately describing his experience for quite some time, Adler cautiously asks while watching Sharlotte’s reaction.

“It’s an ordinary kidnapping case.”

“…R-really?”

“Honestly, I’m not particularly interested.”

Hearing her response, Adler begins to fidget.

“W-why is that…”

“Everything needed to solve the case is already there,” Sharlotte says in a disinterested voice while looking at him.

“Let’s put aside the mastermind behind the incident, the victim’s information, and the cause for now.”

“But…”

“The most important thing—’where the victim is being held’—is clearly known, isn’t it?”

Hearing this, Adler tilts his head quietly.

“Why do you think that?”

“You said you went to work there. So obviously you know the location.”

“Ah, I see.”

“This really isn’t funny…”

Sharlotte, whose eyes nearly rolled back at his innocent response, composes herself and mutters in a low voice.

“You should have gone to the police for this. The facts are clear, so why come to a detective?”

“Hmm…”

“Do you think I’m a chess piece that moves according to your wishes?”

Adler hangs his head shamefully at her words.

“…Sigh.”

Sharlotte, who had been frowning at his dejected appearance, eventually sighs and speaks.

“If you really want me to take on this utterly boring case, I have one condition.”

“What is it?”

When Adler reacts by raising his head, Sharlotte stares intently at his left black eye.

“…A date.”

“What?”

In a slightly quieter voice, she continues.

“Promise to go on a date with me this weekend… just the two of us, without bringing anyone else.”

“……..”

“Then… I might accept your request.”

After saying this, she starts fidgeting with her pen and looking elsewhere.

“U-um…”

“If you don’t like it, forget it.”

When Adler hesitates, she adds in a curt voice.

“N-no… I’ll go on a date with you, but…”

“Really?”

“O-of course.”

“…If only I could believe that.”

When Adler whispers this to her, Sharlotte snorts quietly and turns her gaze away.

“……..”

But beneath the desk, her legs were swinging back and forth, contrary to her indifferent reaction.

“Pfft…”

“What’s so funny?”

“Ah, well, you see.”

Having noticed this and accidentally burst into laughter, Adler quickly regains his composure at Sharlotte’s cold voice and continues.

“I’ll go on the date with you, but this case isn’t as trivial as you think it is—not enough to warrant such a condition.”

“Why not?”

He whispers to Sharlotte, who looks puzzled.

“This case might seem a bit shabby at first glance… but it actually involves complex issues between nations.”

“Listen. Such cases are nothing unusual for me.”

Sharlotte chuckles and refutes his claim.

“I’ve helped at least five heads of state directly, and if we include high-ranking officials, I couldn’t count them all on both hands. To try to impress me by saying it’s just an international issue…”

“…Of course, that’s not all.”

Interrupting her, Adler scratches his head and adds.

“The moment you get involved in this case, someone smarter than you will desperately try to intervene.”

“…You should take that back.”

As soon as he finishes speaking, Sharlotte glares at him with a chilling expression.

“Why?”

“I can overlook most insults coming from you. But if you dare suggest that Professor Moriarty is superior to me…”

“You should listen to people until they finish, Miss Holmes.”

Adler interrupts with a gentle smile.

“It’s not like you’ve read my mind to know my ranking of the smartest women in London.”

“There is no woman in London smarter than me.”

“Really?”

Adler, who had been teasing Sharlotte with a mischievous expression, quickly continues when he notices the murderous aura beginning to emanate from her.

“Even if we exclude Professor Moriarty, there must be someone you yourself have acknowledged as superior.”

“There’s no such person…”

As she glares at him with a frown, her voice trails off.

“Have you remembered?”

“No way…”

Just as she was about to question him with a doubtful look—

*Knock knock knock…*

“”……..?””

Suddenly, knocking sounds from the door.

“Who could it be? Didn’t we put a sign on the door saying we’re not taking any more clients today?”

“…Mr. Hudson should be out shopping by now.”

Watson and Sharlotte, who have become sensitive to the professor’s attacks recently, shift their gaze sharply and stand up.

“Oh, she’s here already.”

“What?”

Just as Adler quietly sighs and mutters this—

*Click…!*

Surprisingly, the locked doorknob turns.

“”……..””

Silence begins to flow through the room.

*Creeeak…*

As the door slowly opens in that silence, Watson and Sharlotte, who had tensed and reached for their gun and hunting whip respectively, suddenly look dumbfounded.

“Hello~”

“Ah.”

“…….”

Seeing the face peeking through the slightly opened door, they momentarily freeze.

“Everyone’s gathered here~?”

The identity of the person who gives them a quiet eye-smile and quietly enters the room is…

“Adler, don’t tell me the person you mentioned was…”

“……”

“…my sister?”

None other than Microny Holmes.

“By the way.”

In this situation, as Adler just sweats nervously instead of answering, Microny Holmes speaks first while looking at him.

“Our cute Mr. Adler doesn’t seem to understand what a promise is~”

Her slightly opened eyes were colder than ever.

“…Is it because demons naturally interpret contracts as they please?”

“Ahem, hmm.”

In this spine-chilling situation, Adler quietly clears his throat and then turns his gaze to Sharlotte.

“Ta-da.”

He mumbles in a timid voice with a shy smile.

“This is the… v-variable I prepared for Miss Holmes.”

And then, silence descended upon the room for a long time.